Vietnam’s Hoa Phat Group has set a goal to sell 9mn mt of steel in 2021 of which, 5mn mt is finished steel construction steel and steel billet, 2.7mn mt is hot-rolled coil (HRC), 920,000mt is steel pipes, and 300,000 is galvanized sheet.
The company said in its Q1 2021 earnings release on Tuesday that its production capacity has improved with the trial operation of blast furnace No 4 that was commissioned in January 2021 in the Dung Quat Iron and Steel Complex.
In Q1 2021 the steelmaker’s steel sales volume hit 2.16mn mt against the same quarter last year. The sale of finished steel used in construction increased by 17pc to 855,000mt while steel pipe sales rose by 27pc to 184,000mt in the same time frame. HRC sales increased by 75pc to 665,000mt in Q1 2021 against Q4 2020.
Finished steel exports increased by 10pc to 147,000mt in Q1 2021 compared to the same quarter a year ago while billet exports rose by 27pc to 386,000mt in the same quarterly period.
Hoa Phat sold more than 1mn mt of steel in March including billet, hot-rolled coil (HRC), constructions steel, and galvanized steel sheet. The growth in demand is due to an increase in infrastructure and civil construction projects in Vietnam, the company indicated.
Construction steel and HRC sales both rose by 36pc to 480,000mt and 238,000mt, respectively, in March compared to the same year-ago month. Pipe sales increased by 73pc to 90,000mt and Sheet sales quadrupled at 31,000mt during the same period.
Hoa Phat exports of finished steel climbed by 18pc to 80,000mt as billet exports rose by 32pc to 178,000mt last month. March 2020 previously held the highest finished steel exports. Corrugated iron products reached almost 14,000mt.